Students collaborate with professors on summer research projects

Several dozen McDaniel students, with support from the college and endowed funds, put summer vacation on hold to remain on campus to conduct research with their professors.

In the Eaton Hall labs, Biochemistry majors Joel Kleinberg and Laura Carvalho are studying different aspects of amyloid fibrils, the denatured protein deposits that are associated with such diseases as Alzheimer’s and type 2 Diabetes and are a research interest of Biochemistry professor Melanie Nilsson.

Carvalho from Silver Spring, Md., is using pig ears to explore two different methods of making slides of amyloid fibril deposits, while Kleinberg from Setauket, N.Y., is investigating whether an insulin-degrading enzyme facilitates or inhibits the formation of the amyloid fibril deposits at insulin injection sites.

With his sights set on medical school, Kleinberg welcomes the opportunity and the experience of doing research.

“And it could help somebody – that’s really possible,” says the senior who will spend the rest of the summer preparing for MCATs, the medical school entrance exams.

So far, Biochemistry-Chemistry major Mary Yates’ vacation view is through a microscope, looking into how the stain, congo red, binds to amyloid fibrils. Now in her second summer of research, Yates says the experience changed her mind about her future.

“I was going to medical school but now, after this experience, I’m thinking more about getting a Ph.D. and ultimately doing cancer research,” says the junior from Phoenix, Md.

The closest Alexa Riland (pictured right running a test for contaminants during her studies of the water quality of Little Pipe Creek in Carroll County) has been to a beach this summer is the shore of Carroll County’s Little Pipe Creek, just down from Westminster’s Waste Water Treatment Plant, as the Environmental Studies junior from Bridgeton, N.J., samples the water for bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants while working with Environmental Studies professor Mona Becker.

McDaniel isn't preparing all students for lives in the lab or the academy, but the college prepares them to ask smart questions, identify the best sources of information, analyze and test that information, draw logical conclusions and generate ideas. What's more, students who complete research projects – independently or as part of professors' established programs – have powerful stories to tell in first job interviews or grad school applications.

Three endowed funds support summer research: The Mayetta Hawkins Boyer Student-Faculty Research Fund, The Jean and Donald Richards Student Research Fund and The Richard Singer Student Research Fund. The college funds the remaining research projects through various sources.

Across campus, students are working with their professors on research that crosses virtually all disciplines, from firm efficiency in Romania with Economics professor Kevin McIntyre to the Westminster Detective Library with English professor Mary Bendel-Simso and English professor emeritus LeRoy Panek; from logic, knowledge and interaction with Computer Science professor Pavel Naumov to the historical studies of African American communities in Maryland.

In the Exercise Science department, five students are studying the cardiovascular and metabolic responses to combined arm and leg exercise with professors Steve McCole and Jennifer McKenzie, while three students are immersed in wine chemistry with Chemistry instructor Steve Robertson.
Each year at McDaniel, students collaborate with their professors on more than 300 research projects. Many are published co-authors of professional papers and presentations even before they receive their degrees.

Here is a list of collaborative research projects, with professors and their students, underway this summer: